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Sharpie Metallic Permanent Marker

Sharpie Metallic Permanent Marker

Most people love Sharpies. Maybe there's a feeling of empowerment that comes with using a writing instrument so widely accepted to be permanent. They're great to label things, and ideal for signing headshots and autographs. Given this, it seems reasonable to expect the new Metallic Sharpies to have even more appeal than the traditional kind. Unfortunately, these silver markers just do not have the star quality we're looking for.

Metallic Sharpies are the same size and shape as traditional Sharpies, and come in packages of two or four. We tested them on four different surfaces, and here's how they did:

  • Paper: Both on plain white paper and colored construction paper, these silver markers show up just grey, and bleed through to the back. Nothing metallic about it.
  • Glass: We tested on both clear and colored bottles and found that the ink is fairly translucent on glass surfaces. In fact, the writing is easy to miss altogether if you are looking anywhere other than directly at the surface where the writing is. Worse, the writing was not at all permanent, and rubbed off easily with a clean finger.
  • Plastic: As the package indicates, the pen was more effective in marking on darker plastic. Unfortunately, the color was never very metallic. On darker plastic, the ink turns out kind of a light milky color, and on lighter plastic it just looks grey. Also, the writing scratched off with little effort.
  • CD: We decided to test these new Sharpies on the label side of a cd as well, since that is where we most often use them ourselves. As it turns out, this was the best surface because the ink was far more permanent than on either glass or plastic. The writing was clear and bolder than on any surface other than the paper. But, alas, like all the rest, the ink was more grey than silver.

Although we are generally fans of standard Sharpies, our tests confirm that the metallic ones leave much to be desired.

  • purchase price - $4.79 for a package of 4
  • availability - Office supply stores and online

Unique Reviews overall rating: 63 out of 100


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